Americans warm to immigration as Trump ramps up deportations: Gallup
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Americans' attitudes toward immigration have softened in the past year, according to a Friday Gallup report.
Why it matters: A record-high share of U.S. adults said immigration benefits the country, despite the Trump administration's continued focus on strict enforcement policies.
- Sentiment toward immigration has returned to 2021 levels, before negative views increased, per Gallup.
By the numbers: The share of Americans who said they want less immigration dropped to 30% from a high of 55% last year.
- 38% of respondents in June said immigration should stay at its present level, while 26% said it should increase.
- A significant majority — 79% — of respondents said immigration is a "good thing" for the U.S. today.
- The share who said it's a "bad thing" dropped from 32% last year to 17% this year.
State of play: Unauthorized border crossings decreased to their lowest level in decades earlier this year after trending down for several months.
- "Republicans are the only group still showing at least plurality support for reducing immigration," the Gallup report said. "Independents are most likely to favor maintaining current levels, while a plurality of Democrats favor increasing it."
The intrigue: U.S. public attitude has shifted after the Trump administration has focused on deportation, expanding detention camps and even denaturalizing immigrant citizens.
- More Americans support offering undocumented immigrants pathways to citizenships, rather than using stringent measures to deter or reverse their status.
- U.S. adults' support for "hiring significantly more Border Patrol agents" dropped 17 percentage points from last year, and support for deportation of all undocumented immigrants decreased by nine percentage points.
Go deeper:
- "Not amnesty lite": Trump's new plan for migrant worker visas
- Immigration crackdown ripples through economy
Methodology: Gallup surveyed a random sample of 1,402 adults living in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The margin of error for results on the sample of national adults is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
